Cherry Blossoms Are Pink!
by Arigatou-Bee
Summary: <html><head></head>Discontinued. X  I'm sorry !</html>
1. Intro

TDR (To dear readers): My first attempt at writing a fanfic. I sure hope i don't dissapoint ya'll =) Please R&R, it'll mean a lot. I promise. =)

"Where are they?" Sakura whined, "I understand Kakashi-Sensei not being on time but Sasuke-Kun? Never! Even that idiot Naruto isn't here and he usually comes running at about this time…" The fifteen year old was currently sitting under her favorite cherry blossom tree with her chin cradled between her hands. She didn't understand why her teammates weren't here when they were all told by their sensei to meet in the early afternoon and judging from the sun it was almost mid-afternoon.

Sighing she stood up and dusted her rump, "Maybe Naruto dragged them to Ichiraku's" As she walked through the streets of Konoha she kept a sharp eye in case she spotted Sasuke or Naruto lurking around the villages many shops and vendors. She finally came upon the small restaurant and when she walked in she was surprised to not find Naruto seeing as he spent every waking moment eating here (when he wasn't training or sparring with Sasuke).

The owner was currently whipping up some noodles for a lone villager sitting on one of the many stools lining a counter similar looking to a bar. Sakura cleared her throat to get the cooks attention since his back was to her but sadly her attempt was futile since it was drowned out by the sizzle the noodles were making when they got tossed in the pan. So she tried again this time she tried coughing, that always works! The villager gave her a dirty look since she didn't cover her mouth and scooted away mistaking her cough for a cold. She sighed, so much for that idea, "Excuse me? Ichiraku-Sama?"

The master noodle maker (a.k.a the old man who obviously didn't have good hearing) finally turned around to give the villager his noodles. Finally noticing the petite girl standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. He gave a bright smile. "Welcome! What can I make for you today Sakura-chan?"

"I was actually wondering if you've seen Naruto today?"

"Naruto?" The chef gave her a mischievous look, "Oh-ho-ho! Naruto didn't tell me you two finally got together! I'm shocked he got a pretty thing like you!"

Sakura's mouth dropped and she could feel her anger quickly boiling. Inner Sakura smirked; well he is right about the pretty part, but being that loser's girlfriend? Hell No! She regained her composure and tightened her fists ensuring she wouldn't "accidently" beat the crap outta this old man, thus hospitalizing him. No. She was better than that, and plus it wasn't very lady-like. Taking a deep, deep breath she continued as politely as she could, "No, I am not…" She ground her teeth together as she said the next words "Naruto's girlfriend…"

The man chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "Well if you say so. But in answer to your question, no I haven't seen him today. It's pretty amazing actually since he usually comes in every morning like a starved dog cleaning me out of all the food I have! HAH-HAH-HAH!"

Sakura bowed a quick thank-you, even though she still didn't forgive him for what he said about her and Naruto, but eh, she'd let that go since she still needed to look for her missing teammates.

Where could she look next? "Oh I know! I'll go to Sasuke-Kun's house!" She giggled, really any excuse to go see him was enough to send her gleefully skipping along.

Well ? Watd'ya think ? Not bad ehh ? llol Thank you once again.


	2. Weak?

Thank you for R&R ! It means a lot ! =)

Sakura hummed to herself as she continued her search for her strangely missing teammates. She decided to go to Sasuke's house and hoped that they would be there; those chances were slim, but any excuse to see her raven-haired prince. She happily twirled a piece of her exotic pink hair, inwardly proud on how no split-ends were present, "I hope Sasuke-kuns home! That way we can look for Naruto and Kakashi-sensei together!" She let out a girlish squeal as she fantasized Sasuke holding her hand as they walked close together down a road aligned with blooming cherry blossom trees. The petals fluttered everywhere making the scene romantic, she let her inner take over since she seemed to have better ideas on how this would play out;

"Sakura, the cherry blossoms are envious of your beauty," a voice that dared to challenge velvet murmured.

"Stop it Sasuke-kun! Your making me blush!" Sakura giggled whilst covering her face with her hands.

Said boy stopped walking and turned to fully face the blushing girl in front of him, "Don't hide your lovely face from me…" He leaned in, his face merely inches from hers, "I can't stand not being able to look at it"

"You can do more than just look Sasuke-kun" Sakura gave him a flirtatious smile as she leaned in. Yes! I finally get to kiss him!...Just a little farther…Almost there….So close!

_POP!_

Sakura's inner sighed dreamily; _if only that was real_.

"THAT WASN'T REAL?" Sakura screeched at her inner.

"_No…of course not?" _

"But it seemed so real!" she wailed.

"_Well thank you!"_ Inner Sakura grinned, "_That means I would make a good storyteller"_

"One problem…The only person you would be telling stories to is me, and frankly right now I hate your stories!"

"_Hey! You were the one who was fantasizing about Sasuke-kun in the first place! But who could blame you! He's so hot!"_

"Shut up! I don't want to hear any more!"

"_Make me!_" Inner Sakura challenged.

Sakura groaned and shook her head trying to get the fantasy out of her head so she wouldn't have to feel tormented. Curse her family and having damn inners!

She took a deep breath seeing as her feet ended up leading her right to Sasuke's. She lightly rapped on the plain white door that separated him from the outside world. She waited as patiently as she could but patience was not one of her strong points; a full five minutes passed, (okay maybe it was three but it was close enough) before she knocked again slightly harder this time.

_Sasuke-kun are you not home? Darn! There goes __that__ fantasy. Ugh! This is getting frustrating!_ _Where could they have possibly gone too?_

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the floor, trying to name all the places in her head where they could have gone.

_Training grounds? Check. Ichirakus? Check. Sasuke-kun's house? Check. I don't think they'd be at Naruto's since…well its Naruto, enough said_. She was about to stomp in frustration when…

"Dobe, I already told you I could take you on anytime anywhere," a low voice taunted. She looked up with a huge grin on her face just in time to see a blond fox-boy raise his fist dangerously close to Sasuke fuming, "Sasuke-teme" he spat.

_Naruto! You better not so much as lay a finger on him!_

Sasuke barely even looked at him as he pushed past him, "Tch"

_Ahh! Sasuke-kuns so cool! _Sakura clasped her hands together, hearts forming in her eyes, already forgetting that they all bailed on her this morning.

"Now now kiddies, play nice," A monotone voice chided barely heard through Naruto's screaming about how he was going to show the bastard when he became Hokage one day. The Jonin shook his head and smiled as he continued to watch them argue. Correction; to watch Naruto argue with Sasuke while the stoic boy just continued to walk ahead of him with his hands shoved in his pockets pretending he couldn't hear the ear splitting insults. He heard them all before anyway, Naruto was getting predictable.

Sakura walked down the few steps leading to Sasuke's house, and stood in front of them, as she put her hands on her hips tapping her foot. "Where have you guys been?"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, "I missed you!" He was going for a hug but was shot down quickly by a punch to the head inflicted by none other than _HIS _Sakura-chan. "Ahh, Sakura-chan you didn't have to hit me so hard" he whined rubbing the bump that was quickly forming on his head.

Sakura huffed, "As I was saying," she looked at her sensei who currently had his nose buried in one of his Make-Out Tactic books (a.k.a porn book) she shuddered before continuing with her questioning. "Kakashi-sensei? You guys weren't at the training grounds this afternoon; I mean you did tell us yesterday to meet you there right?"

The man mentioned gave her an innocent look, _too innocent if you ask me…_Inner Sakura accused. "Did I say that?" he rubbed his masked chin thoughtfully.

"Yes Kakashi-sensei, you did. Therefore, I went as you said and waited, and waited and waited and another waited! In addition, none of you people showed up! What gives?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head chuckling nervously, "Well…you see…I originally intended to bring you but, I didn't want to make you feel…" He looked at the sky for a moment deciding upon which word would work to his advantage, "like you weren't going to be able to 'par-tic-i-pate'." He stretched the word not certain, if that was the correct for what he wanted to say.

"Participate? What wouldn't I have been able to participate in?" Sakura clenched her fists hating the fact that she was left out of anything that concerned her or her team. She turned her head to Naruto noticing he was kicking the dirt looking anywhere but her.

Kakashi sighed, oh boy, this wasn't going to end pretty. "We went on a C ranked mission Sakura." This caught her attention. "We didn't bring you because we felt that it'd be too dangerous for_ you_"

In other words…_Your too weak and would have just have gotten in the way…_Inner Sakura snarled.

Her eyes widened and she could feel her mouth drop, but quickly closed it and simply gritted through her teeth, "I see."

There was a heavy silence in the air; even the birds seemed to have stopped their music. She could feel the tears burn in the back of her eyes but willed herself to keep them in check.

"I'm really sorry Sakura-chan! We just didn't want you getting hurt." Naruto's apology shattered the silence and the already thin wall that held back her tears.

She was furious. "Shut up Naruto!" She turned to give each of the boys an icy glare, "JUST SHUT UP!" Her voice cracked on the last syllable as she took off running putting chakra into her feet to force her to run faster. She needed to get as far away from them as possible.

_WEAK…._

_USELESS…._

_A BURDEN…._

Ooooo ! A bit dramatic neh? I hope you enjoyed it ! =D _  
><em>


	3. Oh, I'm over it, NOT!

"_We didn't bring you because we felt that it'd be too dangerous for you" _

_**Too dangerous**_

_**For you**_

_**You…You…You…You…**_

Those words echoed in her mind, haunting her. Sakura furiously wiped her eyes trying to rub away the hot tears that continued to spill down her cheeks, _Stop it! Stop crying damnit! That's all you ever do! You're a kunoichi for crying out loud! You aren't supposed to let emotions get in any situation; no matter what!_ She scolded herself as she began hiccuping trying to stop the cursed salty water that tickled her lips. She was sitting in a tree on a high branch; she didn't bother to look where she ended up, just as long as she was far away enough to not be able to feel her teams chakra.

"_Team?" _Inner Sakura growled, "_What sort of team goes on a mission and leaves one behind?"_

"Team 7, apparently" Sakura mumbled

"_Jerks." Inner Sakura spat. "I can't believe them! The nerve! Oh, I wish you would've punched Naruto in the face! That'll show them how 'weak' you are!" _

"They didn't necessarily say I was weak..."

"_They didn't have too," _she cut off_, "You and I both know that's what Kakashi-sensei meant" _

Sakura took in a deep shaky breath, "Drop it," she could feel her eyes beginning to water again, "I don't want to think about that right now."

"_If you don't think about it now when are you going to think about it again? Do not just let this go! Don't you want to prove to Kakashi-sensei that you're not weak? That you CAN in fact take on difficult, dangerous missions! Come on Sakura! Now's your chance to prove to Naruto...to Sasuke-kun..." _

"…."

"_Well?"_

"H-how?" Sakura sighed, "What can I possibly do to prove anything to anybody?" She could feel her anger quickly rising, "It seems I'm already labeled for life, besides, Sasuke-kun didn't even say anything! He acted as if nothing even happened! The only one who spoke up was Naruto, and even I could tell it was forced!"

Inner Sakura sighed in frustration_, "Why are you being so difficult?" _

"Because I already knew damnit!" Sakura screamed, "I _already_ _knew_ that I was weak! It hurts to no end knowing that no matter what, I will NEVER catch up to Sasuke-kun or even Naruto!" she bit her lip harshly and whispered, "That's why…"

"…"

"What? No comeback for that one?" Sakura snarled.

"_Tch, I can't believe you're actually giving up…If that's how you're going to be then you're right. You are weak. Stay in the back and have fun memorizing their backs for all I care" _

Sakura looked up at the sky and closed her eyes as she took in a big breath of the crisp night air. "Memorize their backs huh?"

"_Yes memorize them!" _

"Hey! I thought you were mad at me?"

"_I am! I just wanted to make my point"_

Sakura smiled wryly and shook her head, "Actually, I think I like the idea of them memorizing MY back…"

OoOoOo

"Neh, Sasuke-teme, do you think Sakura-chan's guna show up to train with us today?" The hyperactive- blonde was surprisingly quiet as they waited for their pink haired teammate.

"Hn." Was the raven's reply as he unconsciously shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, continuing to stare at the wooden floor. The bridge where they usually waited was so peaceful and mellow without Sakura; and Sasuke Uchiha didn't like that one bit. Though he would never admit it out loud, he secretly liked the way her presence seemed to brighten up the already sunny mornings they stood waiting for their constantly late sensei.

"I feel really bad for what happened yesterday…" Naruto whispered, "We shouldn't have gone on that mission without her, it was wrong" He shuddered slightly remembering the way she glared at them before she turned on her heel running. Sakura's glared at him before, many times in fact, but this time it was different. It was full of humiliation, pain and what he hoped to never see in her eyes; _betrayal_.

Sasuke glanced his way for a second before closing his eyes, "It needed to be done, if she ended up going we'd only be slowed down by having to protect her"

"That's not true! Sakura-chan-" He was cut off by the fast clack of sandals hitting wood, "Sorry! My alarm clock didn't go off" Sakura's tongue peeked out as she twirled a piece of her hair.

"Sakura-chan! You came!" Naruto grinned as he ran over to her.

She looked at him with a confused expression, "Eh? Why wouldn't I of come?"

"W-Well with what happened yesterday…I thought that maybe you'd still be mad and maybe not show up," Naruto explained, rubbing the back of his head, a small hesitant smile on his lips.

Sakura dismissed what Naruto said with a wave of her hand, "Oh that? No, I'm not mad anymore. I've forgotten about it completely. I understand this was an important mission and I didn't want to be the one who got in the w-way" She stuttered at the end and this didn't go unnoticed by the boy prodigy who had raised his head to look up at the pink haired girl.

Sakura caught Sasuke searching her face for any falseness in what she had said but she chose to ignore it. She was telling the truth, she did forget about it and she WAS over it.

"_Not"_ Inner Sakura mumbled. Whish Sakura also chose to ignore.

There was an awkward silence since Naruto wasn't sure what to say anymore so he chose to do what he did best; talk about the latest ramen he tried.

"Yo" Kakashi greeted with a wave of his hand. He was surprised to see Sakura standing next to Naruto rolling her eyes when he mentioned he was devastated since he used up his last free ramen ticket. He was sure she wouldn't have come today, given the circumstances of yesterday.

"Oh Kakashi-sensei, good morning," Sakura smiled up at him, finally noticing he was crouched down on one of the wooden posts that peeked out from the bridge.

"_If he wasn't our damn teacher I so would've gave him a piece of my mind," _Inner Sakura threatened.

"Good Morning Sakura," Kakashi replied warmly, he felt bad for what he had said to her yesterday. He could tell it hurt her deeply and was a vicious strike to her ego. "Are you guys ready to go?" he asked, his face already buried in one of his many Make-Out-Tactic books.

"We've _been_ ready!" Naruto yelled pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi "But YOU were late! AGAIN!"

"Yeah, I know." Kakashi replied, unfazed by Naruto.

The kitsune's jaw dropped basically touching the floor, "You admit it? N-No excuses?"

"I didn't have time to think of one since I was too busy trying to help a damsel in distress from a hoard of bandits."

Naruto fell over, Sakura sweat-dropped and Sasuke? Well Sasuke was just Sasuke.

OoOoOoOoO

"Hah!" Sakura grunted, as she threw shuriken at the training dummy that was tied to a post in the middle of _their_ training grounds. And no, she didn't mean Naruto; since _that_ dummy was currently sparring with Sasuke. She could hear Naruto's satisfied grunts when he thought he finally had Sasuke in one of his traps, only to be disappointed when the Uchiha smirked and dodged the shuriken that were intended for his legs.

"Don't get so cocky bastard! I almost had you!" Naruto panted.

"Whatever, loser" Sasuke snorted.

Sakura felt exasperated when she felt she wasn't making much progress, she couldn't seem to make the damn weapon go where she wanted it to. She flipped in the air as she threw kunai at the red target in the middle of the already battered doll. Out of the five she threw, only two managed to hit straight smack in the middle. She sighed and went to go take them out one by one cursing when they were way off her intended mark.

Kakashi was watching Naruto and Sasuke argue over who won the match, when he noticed a certain pink haired student wasn't yelling at Naruto for being so close to Sasuke's face. He leapt off the branch he was sitting on and decided to go look for her. When he found her some feet away, he was surprised to find her sitting on the ninja doll repeatedly punching its face.

Punch! "WHY" Punch! "CAN'T" Rip! 

_There goes the arm…_

"I" Punch! "BE" Rip!

_There goes the head… _"STRONGER!" Sakura screamed as she grabbed the doll and threw it as far as she could into the sky.

_Oh…I'm going to have to replace that one_ Kakashi sighed. He was hidden in a shrub as he watched the young girl glare at the floor.

"How is it so hard for me to aim a couple of measly shuriken when Sasuke and Naruto don't even have to look anymore when they throw them?" Sakura panted as she wiped the sweat that began to form on her brow.

Kakashi was half expecting her to give up right then and there, but she surprised him for the second time that day as she mumbled, "No! No, feeling sorry for yourself!" She slapped her cheeks, and took a deep breath as she put her hands together, "Alright! Bunshin no jutsu!" Three Sakura clones appeared, "I'm going to see how many I can make before my chakra gives out"

"_Cha! You can do it Sakura!_" her inner cried raising her fist.

_Poof!_

"Ah, only four? Well I'm not going to stop until I can make fifty!" Sakura cried out in determination.

"Yeah!" The Sakura clones cried.

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

Kakashi smiled under his mask, well, well, well, it seems his plan worked. Yes, you read right dear readers. Kakashi Hatake, Konoha's elite Jonin, planned the whole thing. He deliberately made sure Sakura would be left behind on this mission, so he could have an opportunity to motivate her into wanting to become stronger by making her think she was too weak to handle the mission. Yup, he was good.

"Six? Fine! Only fourty-four more to go" Sakura cracked her knuckles," Bunshin no jutsu!"

_"I'm so going to kick ass" _She smirked as another clone appeared.

TDR: I've been re-reading my chapters and fixing them, like all the misspellings or rewording things so they make more sense, because you guys deserve the best =) Thank you for R&Ring. Means a lot.


	4. Pinch me! I have to be dreaming!

TDR (To dear readers): I am so so so so so so so so so so and a million times so for not updating ! Please forgive me ! My internet got cut off and is still currently off so I had to borrow my sister's internet to upload this chapter. I will try to upload as many as I can a.s.a.p. Since now that school is finally over (does happy dance) I have all summer to hopefully get awesome ideas to keep you people coming back for more. Once again thank you so much ! You guys are amazing. =)

"T-twenty-two" Sakura gasped as she steadied her shaking form.

"_Aright Sakura! Only twenty-eight more to go! You can do this!" Inner Sakura encouraged. "Go! Go! Go!" _

"Bunshin no jutsu!" The sound of crickets could be heard somewhere in the bushes.

"_WHAT? YOU'RE OUT OF CHAKRA? ALREADY!" _Inner Sakura screamed.

"N-no…I should have a little more!"

"_WELL OBVIOUSLY NOT SINCE NOTHING HAPPENED!"_

Sakura put her hands together and closed her eyes, "Come on just one more" She whispered.

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

POOF!

Sakura's pretty face twisted into hideous confusion, "Eh?...W-what is that?"The clone that was made from the little chakra she had left was disfigured lying on the on the floor with its eyes in the form of X's and its tongue hanging out to the side of its mouth.

"_That looks like one of Narutos clones" Inner Sakura snickered. "Maybe we should call it a day"_

"But I haven't reached my goal yet!" Sakura sighed, "If I just rest a bit I'm sure I could make at least one more clone; a good one."

"_If you push yourself to hard you're going to pass out and then Kakashi-sensei or Naruto or Sasuke-kun'll find you and that's going to be pretty embarrassing don't you think?" _

"Yeah, yeah your right" Sakura yawned and stretched; several bones cracked simultaneously "Whew! I guess I'll go back, they're probably wondering where I've gone"

"_You know…if you were to pass out and Sasuke-kun was the one to find you!"_ Inner Sakura giggled madly,_ "He'd have no choice but to carry you back to Kakashi-sensei to get help AND he'd be carrying you __**bridal**__ style! Waahh! Keep training! Keep training!" _

Sakura could feel her face get warm as she pictured it. "S-stop it! Get that picture out of my head!" She punched the sides of her head a few times before she took a deep breath, "Okay, now, where was I going again?"

"You really ought to get that checked." She could almost hear the smirk. "Hitting yourself isn't very normal."

"Oh! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura blushed sweat dropping, she turned around to face the boy who was the center of her fantasies.

_How embarrassing! I wonder how long he's been standing there. Oh kami! I hope he didn't see the last clone I made! Oh, please tell me he di-_

"You call _that_ a clone?" Sasuke eyed the pathetic lump that was near his teammate's feet. At that moment, the clone decided it needed to twitch to emphasize how horrible of a job Sakura had done. "Tch, at least _train_ if you're going to go off on your own."

Sakura gritted her teeth; well he chose a convenient time to prance in, just when her chakra was empty too. She scowled at the floor, "I HAVE been training." You just missed it that's all. She added inwardly.

Sasuke looked up at her, "Well you need to train harder then, since it doesn't seem like you've made much progress." He placed a hand on his hip, "Come on, it's getting late and Kakashi-sensei wants to go over the mission he has for us tomorrow." With that, he turned and walked back down the little path that lead to the training grounds.

"Oh great," Sakura mumbled, "Now he thinks I've been slacking off. Just GREAT!" She kicked at the ground.

"_Well bright side…Sasuke-kun was the one that came looking for you. It could have been Naruto or Kakashi-sensei?" _Inner Sakura tried cheering up her host. "_If he didn't want to be the one that came to get you he could've had Naruto do it, but obviously he __**wanted**__ to come which means he was curious." _She waggled her eyebrows, _"Or worried about why you weren't training with them. Him." _

Sakura looked up at the sky, a collision of pink and orange colors mingling, which always reminded her of orange sherbet, her favorite ice cream. "For once I wish it wasn't him" She looked back at the path said boy walked and sighed, trudging towards it.

When she finally made it to the clearing, she wasn't surprised to see Naruto being held back by a tired looking Jonin. Of course, Sasuke wasn't even looking at him staring off as he usually did at nothing in particular.

"Nice for you to finally join us Sakura," Kakashi-sensei turned to her smiling his lone eye crinkling at the corners. Sakura managed a small smile of her own; apparently, the five minutes it took her to walk there did not make her embarrassment vanish due to Sasukes impeccable timing.

Kakashi cleared his throat shattering her thoughts as he began, "Now before we go home I would like to discuss some of the details of the mission we're going to be going on for a few days. Listen careful-"

"What kind of mission Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto cut off, clearly excited to be able to put his training to good use, "One where we have to protect a princess from a clan of rouge ninja? Or is it one where we have to save a whole village from being annihilated by a hoard of angry S class criminals who have huge saw like swords that can cut mountains in one sweep and-"

Sakura could feel her vein pulsing in her forehead as she stomped over to Naruto and whacked him in the back of his head, "Shut up so we can find out!"

"Owh!" Naruto whined grabbing his throbbing head.

"Thank you Sakura, now as I was saying." Kakashi flicked his eye to each of his students before continuing, "This mission we're going on isn't going to be an ordinary mission; in fact it will test your ability to keep calm under cornered situations. There will be many moments where you have to think on your toes and those decisions will affect either you or your teammates so make sure you think clearly and don't act on impulse," A chiding look directed to Naruto. "Also always work together, don't think for one minute that you're better off by yourself" A scolding stare set for Sasuke. "One more thing, **never doubt yourself**. When you do, the enemy gets the better of you and he'll take advantage of that and use it to tear you down even further. Keep your chin up and fight with all you have. You are all gifted in your own special way; **it's up to you though to figure out what that gift is**. " A fierce eye-boring gaze pointed towards Sakura. She wanted to smile, she wanted to cry, so many things she wanted to say but she decided to settle for a determined gaze right back at her silver-haired pervert, always late, laid back, sometimes cool teacher Kakashi Hatake.

"Thank you sensei" Sakura whispered, she wasn't sure if he had heard her or not but it didn't matter because something gave her a feeling that things were looking up.

"Alright kiddies, get a good night's sleep. We'll meet at the front gate tomorrow morning, at the crack of dawn." Before Naruto could complain about the time, he was gone. A few leaves scattered to the ground showing any signs of movement.

"Man!" Naruto crossed his hands behind his head, "He says crack of dawn but he's not going to show up until late morning." Sakura put her hands on her hips, she really hoped not. If this mission was as important as Kakashi-sensei said then it had better change his streak of being late.

"Hrn," Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pocket. "Let's go." He turned and headed in the direction back to the village.

Even though no one ever suggested it, not even once, it was just an unspoken oath that they would all walk home together every day after training. It was nice, sort of like their little ritual. Sakura always looked forward to it because she always felt closer to her teammates when they walked side by side down the abandoned streets, since training usually ended well after midnight. Even if she had started walking on the edge, somehow she'd always end up in the middle of the two. Secretly she knew it was because the boys felt protective of her so they'd nudge her lightly to the middle always indiscreet; it was safer. Although she knew, they'd never admit it, but wasn't that the beauty of it?

Naruto was always the first one that was dropped off since his house was the closest near Ichiraku's, what a coincidence, from there Sasuke would walk Sakura home even though the Uchiha District was around the corner. It was his Uchiha pride; he couldn't have a _girl_ walking **him**home, so he was always the one left to walk back by himself. Sakura would usually flirt with him as he walked her, he would of course ignore her, pretending he wasn't listening. Sometimes he'd hear her talk to herself, yup; she really needed to get that checked. She'd mumble things like, "I didn't forget to turn the tap off again did I?" Or, "Should I invite him in for tea? No, he'd most likely say no, but it's rude not too…" Once she was so wrapped up in her mumbles that she didn't even realize they were in front of her house. It took Sasuke fifteen minutes of, "Sakura…Sakura…Sakura we're here…Oi!...Hello! Sakura!...Sakura Haruno!...SA-KU-RA!..." for her to finally realize they had stopped walking and she had a very pissed Uchiha in front of her. He was so close to chucking a kunai at her that his knuckles had turned white. He didn't even say anything he just turned on his heel and left, but for some reason today, she was quiet. She wasn't flirting, talking to herself or simply talking for that matter. He sideway glanced at her to make sure she was still there; she had her head bent forward her short hair hiding her face from him. Her hands demurely folded in front not in back, as they usually were. It irritated him for some reason that she wasn't flirting or talking to herself it was as if he were walking alone. Now he knew how she must feel walking with him. He sighed, "Sakura" She jumped as his deep voice shattered the awkward silence.

"Y-Yes" Her voice cracked, tentative. She cleared her throat, "Sasuke-kun?"

Now Sasuke Uchiha was many things. The sole survivor of his clan, the second brightest student in the academy since the first brightest was none other than Sakura, possessor of a dangerous, most advanced, complex, what people kill for; his kekkei genkkei the Sharingan, and hell people feared him just by hearing his name! But, what Sasuke Uchiha wasn't, was dealing with the soft squishy stuff you people probably call "sympathy" or to put it simply "feelings" he just didn't understand them and it wasn't his territory. Whenever Sakura was in a bad mood or just felt crummy Naruto or Kakashi-sensei, would be the ones to ask her if she was okay or if she needed to talk, but Sasuke? Never. Rarely would he comfort Naruto if he was having one of his _days_ but it was easy to get Naruto out of his funk, you offer the kid ramen and it's like giving catnip to an already cat-nipped kitty. Sakura was different, she was a girl, and he couldn't just give her ramen and go on his way. No siree, this had to be done the hard way. So what was supposed to come out as, "Are you okay? You've been acting different ever since that whole incident happened with the mission. Do you want to talk about it?" Came out in Sasuke-speak, "Stop being so quiet. It's annoying." Face palm. Yes, Sasuke Uchiha was many things; unfortunately, we can't have it all.

"I-It's annoying…that I'm not talking?" Now Sakura was very confused. She in fact thought Sasuke would like it that she was quiet since he tuned her out when she talked anyway, jeez, there was just no pleasing this kid. "I'm sorry?" She looked up at him.

"No. I-uh…" Sasuke cursed himself for stuttering. Damn people and having feelings! The world would be such a better place without them! "Quiet doesn't suit you. You're more of a loud annoying kind of person." He turned his head too fast so she wasn't sure, but was he blushing?

"_Is that a compliment or an insult?" _Inner Sakura asked, _"I'm lost"_

"Oh, well I-uh thank you?" Sakura replied hesitantly, "I didn't mean to be quiet; I just had some things on my mind is all.

"What kinds of things?" He mumbled, staring straight ahead.

That's not Sasuke-kun! He would never ask me or even care for that matter…As much as I hate to admit it to myself but I'm dreaming! He can't possibly care what-

"I asked you a question," He grunted casting a look at her before turning his head back to the dark, gloomy street.

She sweat dropped, _Yup, that's definitely Sasuke-kun. _"Uhm…well lots of things…like for instance that mission we have tomorrow. I'm a little worried is all, the way Kakashi-sensei was talking about it. It must be a huge deal for him to be so serious about it since Kakashi-sensei is never serious about anything for that matter. So it scares me a little, what if I can't handle it or what if I make one of those decisions and it's a wrong one and I end up putting the team in jeopardy? I don't want to be the one that ruins everything because of a stupid mistake I make or something slips my mind and I don't do it and I cause a huge catastrophe! I just don't want to be the one that ruins things." _I don't want to disappoint you. _She didn't realize that they had stopped walking some time ago, and were already up the little stairs that led to her door. Sasuke was staring to the side his hands deep in his pockets. She always thought he looked so cool when he was in that pose, so calm and collected. So-

"_Hot? Is that the word you were going to use?" _Inner Sakura drooled, _"Kami he is just so delicious!" _

Sakura chose to ignore her inner since Sasuke was _right_ there.

"Thanks for walking me home Sasuke-kun, and…thank you for listening to my-"

"Whining?" He turned back to her smirking cutting her off.

"_Whining?_" Sakura's jaw dropped, "I was NOT whining!"

"Sounded like whining to me" Sasuke's smirk got just a little bigger. "The woe is me; I can't do anything, sounded like whining to me."

Sakura was tired, determined, embarrassed, sad, confused, just so many emotions for one day that she wasn't clearly thinking when she said, "Well _excuuuse_ me for not being so great at life like you apparently! Since you _apparently_ don't have any worries or don't ever doubt yourself or don't ever mess up cus' your _apparently _so perfect because your Sasuke frekin' Uchiha! Sorry for sharing what YOU asked me to share! More like demanded! You could've just ignored or tuned me out like you normally but nooOOOoooo! Sasuke Uchiha just haaaaAAAAAAaaad to know what I was thinking! Oh but there's no pleasing you! Since you said, I was _annoying_ when I was being _quiet_! I mean what the hell? How can someone be annoying," Her hands gestured to the left, "When their quiet" now to the right, before they flew up into the sky, "I don't get you Sasuke-kun!" She was panting, not registering fully what just happened. Sasuke's face was blank as he stared at her. Onyx eyes boring into Emerald.

"Are you done?" He simply asked.

She slowly nodded, her face burning quickly, "I-I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, I-I didn't mea-mmmm" Suddenly a hand was over her mouth and it sure as her hair is pink wasn't hers! She looked down and was beyond shocked to see that it belonged to Sasuke.

"You said you were done," Sasuke smirked, his hand still covering the pinkettes mouth. If a tomato were placed near her face, Sakura would get the prize. "You were whining again"

Sakura still managed to roll her eyes even though three things were happening right now. One Sasuke was touching her. Two Sasuke was inches away from her face, she could feel his breath fan her face when he talked just now, and three, Sasuke Uchiha was touching her!

"_Your lips to be exact" _Inner Sakura squealed doing a victory dance.

"I say it's whining because your just naming all the things that could go wrong," He uncovered her mouth and slipped his hands back into his pockets.

Sakura released a breath; she didn't realize she was holding.

"Sakura you're the best at gengutsu on our team, your're also the smartest. So how would you make those mistakes, also you think about things until their crystal clear to you so it doesn't make sense that you'd slip up. When you think the way, you do then that's how mistakes are made. Therefore, you just need to calm down and clear your mind of all the bad things and believe in yourself. The dobe is the most likely person who'd ruin anything on this mission." He looked away from her and went back to staring off into the trees.

Sakura could feel her eyes being to water, "S-Sasuke-kun t-thank you"

Sasuke glanced back at her, "Hrn, but it doesn't mean that you aren't the weakest when it comes to taijutsu or ninjutsu,"

Sakura could feel her temper flare once more, "You just wait and see Sasuke-kun, I _will_ become stronger; then not even you will be able to compete with me" Her voice was so full of determination that even he was taken-aback.

Sasuke smirked for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day and leaned in his face inches from hers, once again her cheeks reddening, he almost grinned, but he stopped it in time, "I'll hold you to that Sa-ku-ra" He lightly flicked her forehead before he disappeared into a whirl of leaves.

Then all was silent, the wind blowing gently ruffling the trees that Sasuke was staring so intently at, Sakura could feel her heart pound in her ears. She reached up to touch the middle of her forehead that was still tingling from where Sasuke flicked her.

Yes, things were starting to look up for Sakura Haruno.

WOOOOOO ! I'm really proud of this chapter ! I hope I captured the characters well ! Especially Sasukes ! His was the HARDEST ! Gosh ! He's such a difficult character to fig out what you want to say and how to say it and what to do and blaaah ! crazy ! loll Well Pretty Please Review ! Thank you so much ! P.s its 3 in the morning ! HOLY CROW ! I got into this chapter ! loll


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